The platform gaming genre is a bit empty on the PSP. Daxter aims to fill this gap and does a really good job in the process.
Daxter is a comical little rodent type thing who, as a result of some exaggerated stories of his heroics, manages to unintentionally land himself a job as a bug exterminator. Armed with his electric bug swatter off he goes. Shortly afterwards he gets another weapon in the form of a bug spray gun which stuns bugs ready for him to whack them with his swatter. The gun can also be used for short bursts of flying to help him get over large gaps, and if the spray catches light from a nearby flame it will kill bugs, burn through obstructions and allow Daxter to fly even further.
I've not played any of the other Jak and Daxter games but from what I've heard they're extremely good. But then I'm not usually a big fan of platform games. It's got to be a really good one if it's going to keep hold of my attention after the first couple of stages. Three stages in I was still going. Four stages… still going… five stages… six… it's official, this is a great platform game.
The levels are varied enough to keep most people happy. There are the usual things to avoid such as bottomless pits, water to drown in, enemy projectiles, and the usual things to jump around on such as moving platforms, bouncy platforms, slides, and numerous other variants of a similar nature. One of my favourite levels has you jumping from train to train in a subway whilst jumping over, ducking under and dodging around electrical beams. It gradually speeds up getting trickier but not to a point where it is virtually impossible. The challenge is always increasing slightly, but the difficulty curve is nice and steady and doesn't frustrate you to the point of throwing the disc away.
My problem with platform games of this type is that I get easily bored of wandering around trying to find items that are hidden away. Daxter doesn't seem to induce this boredom though. The bonus eggs are spread around the levels and instead of being either easy or nigh on impossible to reach, they are varied in their ease of discovery. Some you will be able to see but not reach at first, whilst others you will whizz past on one of the many sliding-down-slopes sections. This makes you actually WANT to replay levels in an attempt to get that last bonus egg, (something I have NEVER wanted to do in platform games). I am yet to reach a point where I'm fed up of wandering around trying to find the last few bonus eggs hidden away in each level.
There are also some little mini-games along the way. Essentially they are all the same in that you need to press the correct button when it shows you to press it on the screen. These are good fun though, (some being based on movies such as The Matrix and Braveheart), and gain Daxter a few bonus things such as extra moves or health.
The game also looks great. Graphics are crisp, clear, bright and varied, and Daxter is animated brilliantly. The sound is pretty good too with standard cartoony sound effects and music. There's also speech, which is clear and progresses smoothly instead of stop-starty as in some other games.
The controls work really well with the analogue stick moving Daxter around, and all the other actions being easily achieved without any tying your fingers in knots or a need for wading through menus.
If you like platform games you'll probably like this. If, like me, you don't normally play them, give it a go and you might be surprised.
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